Where Do Stories Come From - Poem by Darlene Walsh

One day, after reading her son a bed time story, the bright little boy asked, 'Mommy, where do stories come from? '

So the mommy explained to the young reader.In the beginning there was a word.The word was formed from the letters of the universeand its imagination. And the word was good.

And the word gathered other letters from the universe to form more words.The words organized them selves into thoughts and phrases.The phrases organized themselves into paragraphs.The paragraphs became a story.

The story was good, but it was lonely.So it gave some of its words to the universe, and those words gathered more letters.It too grew from the imagination of the universe and became a story.

It also was a good story, but very different from the first story.Together, these two stories combined some of theirletters and words and phrases, and together they made more stories.

And many of those stories were good, like the first two stories, but different in many ways.

Some of the stories were mysterious, some were adventurous, and some were simply fantastic and magical.Many were filled with love, some contained bits of lust and greed, and some were even tinged with hate.

From small mice to great men, the stories were filledwith every character imaginable, and many beyond imagination.Some talked about what was, and some about what was to be, and some even about what could never be.

The universe saw the stories and said to them, be fruitful and multiply.Fill the whole universe with more of your stories.And they did.Stories of every shape and form spread across all the universe.

Some stories were very long, and some were very short.Most stories were very good, but some were also very bad. Over time, from the time before the Iliadto long past the end of the Odyssey, the stories filled the universe.

They were found lining the shelves of every library and book store.Shelves and desks in many homes and schools and workplaceswere pleased to be covered with the stories.And the stories delighted in the reading and re-reading.

They relished the laughter, the joy, and even the tears they spread across the universe.And life for all was blessed with their presence.